Monday, February 18, 2013

city living...

there is something about being in the city that makes me feel…almost like i'm home. while salt lake isn't the biggest city, it does just fine. we spent some time there on friday afternoon. before heading home we stopped in at eva's bakery for a bite to eat. there was amazing food and a diverse crowd, and for a tiny moment it was almost like being back in new york city…not really, but you know what i mean? the girls were the only children there, and even with the giggles and an accidental water spill, our waiter and the people around us were so kind and talkative.

we spent a semester in manhattan for matthew's internship with price waterhouse coopers. it was at the end of my pregnancy with maddie, when gracie was a wild, non stop toddler, and in the middle of new york's snowiest winter on record. we lived in a less than 500 square foot, run down apartment…i'm not sure it would have passed a health code check. but despite that, it began our love affair with the city (i'm determined to sit and write about our time there…someday). and, regardless of what everyone says about new yorkers, i talked with more strangers, received more help and felt more welcomed there, than i have anywhere else in the world. we can't watch a show or see pictures or hear of someone visiting there without feeling a tug at our hearts. with law school applications in and our future up in the air, we lay in bed most nights and wonder where the next few years will take us. most conversations revolve around the pros and cons of a big city or a small town life…how the girls will manage and how we want to raise them...and that new york is just so far away from both our families. we'd love to have a yard and space for the girls to grow…but life in the city has so much culture and history to experience, we go back and forth. a huge portion of tax law jobs are in los angeles or new york…and while we have absolutely loved our time here in utah, we can't help but feel a pull towards something new for our little family; a new place to explore and grow, a place to call our own. the hardest part of trying to make these decisions is knowing that so much of it is out of our hands…we'll go where matthew is accepted and where he gets a job- either a bustling city or a slow quiet town. the four of us together will make the most of it, no matter where it is. but for the next couple months, until we've heard back from all the schools he's applied to, we'll get to lay in bed and dream of all the possibilities…so exciting!